Chia's Player Plot Toolkit
Overview: Sometimes, staff isn't enough. There are only so many of us, after all - and there are limits to our imagination and time. For every story we can think of, there are a dozen more that players have in their minds, just hoping will happen next. How many times have you looked up and said 'wouldn't it be cool if?' This particular set of Wikipages is intended to address the idea of players running storylines - what resources do you have access to? What can you reasonably do? How do you make it /work/? Consider them both a combination of rules and sage advice to help you take those 'wouldn't it be cool if' ideas and bring them to fruition. If you've got a good idea for a story... start here. The Outer Limits: There are three essentially unbreakable rules of player storytelling: 1) You can't kill (or target) anybody. Leave the death and dying to staff. It's fine to run a combat encounter, certainly (we reccomend you let staff /know/ when you do - and let us help you with it! They can be difficult to balance well...), but only a staffer can allow a luck card to be tossed, and only a staffer can ultimately set a PC dead. There is an ulterior motive, of course: as silly as it is, people have tried to assassinate others using NPCs. Er. No. The point is fun, not a vehicle for silliness or rude behavior. Making death significant curbs that kind of nonsense. Additionally, you can't specifically target or call out another PC. It's a bit of a sticky concept - this doesn't mean that your plot can't be aimed at the obvious Marked Mage in the scene, or at the glowy guy pontificating about the light, or even at the cute girl (or guy!) at the bar. It /does/ mean that you can't throw down a plot with the express purpose of, say, politically assassinating a noble PC or abusing someone not even present, especially without their permission. As always, if in doubt, ask! 2) You can't glorify your own PC. This one's a little trickier. Generally speaking, you should not run any sort of player-story with the purpose of aggrandizing your own character. If you're a bladesman of the highest order, running a storyline where your PC comes over the hill and saves the day when the players are battered and bruised is exceptionally bad form. In fanfic writing, it's called being a "mary sue" - writing yourself in over the main characters of a story. If you're running a storyline, the players who are participating are your heroes; allow them to be. Now, does this mean your PC cannot participate if you're adding something to a scene? No.. your PC can. But you should play secondary parts, supporting roles. Let the others that are there with you have the focus and the spotlight. 3) You can't modify Theme. In other words - your storyline must be within the bounds of established theme. No creating new types of magic, no adding entire factions or bureaus to Fastheld's government. No adding new races, or blowing huge holes in the Aegis. More subtly, you need to get a staffer involved if your plot involves, say, setting fire to an existing construction or causing significant damage or reaction among the wider NPC population. (Yes, some /escalate/ to that point - we understand - but grab us anyway when they do. We'll help!) If there's a murder in the street of Lionsgate, this is going to have wider repercussions than most realize... and that's staff's job to both work with and follow up on. The trick here is that you can't change the game significantly just to let your bandit leader be BOTH light AND shadow-touched while worshipping Dragons and eating babies while reading to old women at the nursing home. Er. No. Stay inside the (particularly wide) sandbox we're all a part of. Permission and Consent If you're going to run a storyline for folks, it's usually best to get their consent before tossing it out there. This is especially true in the case of combat encounters, as - frankly? Combat is mechanics-intensive, takes a while, and isn't everybody's cup of tea. Take a minute to make sure what you're about to put together would be welcome, will add to instead of detract from the scene in progress, and that everyone else has the time and ability to become involved. Just because you think throwing a pirate-bandit-captain-dog-tamer out there RIGHT NOW is a good idea? Well - it may not be. Check with those about to experience your canine pirate aspirations before you do. Additionally, if you're going to go into the realms that require staff permission - well, make sure you get it first. It makes us noticably twitchy. Keep in mind - you don't /always/ have to have consent. It's just a very, very good idea. After all, if someone's having a particularly intense roleplaying session in the tavern, your dream bard may simply be an irritant and interruption even if it's not a Bad Thing. Asking ahead of time solves the problem of 'being perceived as an attention hound or an annoyance' neatly. NPC and Challenge Levels As a general rule, Chia is a game tuned to FAIR and GOOD levels of ability. This means that player characters who have a Fair should have an even chance in using their skill in an encounter successfully, and characters who have a Good should find that they're remarkably useful and should /feel/ professional in using their skills. Additionally, even the least-skilled player character should be considered an exceptional specimen - players are the unusual few in a world populated by the average. ... before you ask, yes. This means that characters going above Great in a skill significantly 'blow the curve'. But then, should a Superb swordsman not be Superb? Should a Legendary carpenter not make cabinets better than have been seen in a generation? Don't fret if your combat encounter is blasted apart by a single PC with a Legendary skill... they simply are the best of the best, and there's no need to suddenly create monster NPCs to counter them. In a player plot, you should feel free to use NPCs of the Mook and Guard levels (take a look at NPC Guidelines for the full skinny). Most NPCs should fall at the lower end of the spectrum - after all, if a trained guard is at Good, for the most part, most other folk will not quite reach that height. Generally, physical or mental challenges should fall into the same spectrum - if characters are outrunning falling boulders in a collapsing tunnel or disarming a hunter's trap in the woods, the challenge should fall into the same general range. General Guidelines and Sage Advice Approval Required: The following general plot ideas - in /any permutation/ - require a staff signoff. Sorry, guys, these are the plots we jealously keep for ourselves, for a lot of reasons. Call us horrible for it. If your plot idea even loosely uses some of these components, check in with us! Shadow-touched mages and Sunkissed clerics. The Scourges of Sun's Keep (or any other rogue faction of the former church. A noncombatant, militant street preacher DOES NOT fall here - we're talkin' golden-armor, smash head in, zealot types. If in doubt, ask!) The Stanchion. Wildlings and Mankiller Bears. Royal plotlines or events revolving around the Regent, the Imperial family, or the like. You're just not kidnapping the infant prince. Corruption in the Guardsmen at a high level, either Royal or House. (Low level bribery is /fine/. But having the captain secretly plotting to oust his own duke while... well, you get the idea. Guardsmen are generally good at what they do, and grand conspiracies are the stuff of theme-wide plotlines.) Bandits: Bandits are a staple in the Fantasy genre. And, yes, Fastheld has its troubles with these fellows, as much as any other civilization has. Peasants and poor freelanders, for the most part, Bandits are those who have turned to simple thuggery and highway robbery to survive. They tend to survive in the open spaces between cities, especially on secondary trails and long stretches of irregularly patrolled roads. Generally speaking, you're not going to encounter Bandits in cities, or even close to cities. Bandits prey on those far from the safety and comfort of civilization, and are not equipped or trained to even consider fighting the Guard, for the most part. They tend to flee when outmatched, and are the true reason most merchants still travel with one or two guards on the long jaunts between civilized areas. Bandits are generally FAIR NPCs (Mooks), and are NOT found in or near cities. Keep 'em to the woods - and remember that the recent crackdown by the Royal Guard and House Guard have certainly made it very difficult for them to operate. Notably, the Bandits near light's reach have almost wholly been destroyed. Thieves and Petty Crime: In any great civilization, the rats still have their day. Fastheld is no exception - the crime that is endemic in the more civilized areas are the crimes against property. Pickpockets and second-story-men, grifters and con artists. The more attention paid to the streets by the Guardsmen, the less likely you'll run into these folk - but the best of cities simply do attract a higher class of criminal, and there are fewer. Towns like Hawk's Aerie and Lionsgate tend to the lowest crime rates (Road's End is in there - too many retired soldiers!) - while Trademeet, Northreach, and Wedgecrest have constant troubles with petty crime. Oddly enough, well played, most encounters of this sort are roleplaying encounters - a grifter isn't exactly the most combat-oriented soul. Just as bandits aren't found in the cities proper, you generally (though not always) won't find a con man or pickpocket in the woods, either. No marks makes for a poor breeding ground, after all. Ladies and Men of the (ahem) evening: Yes, the oldest profession is alive and well in Fastheld - see the Moon and the Wailing Wench, among others. However, most of the working professionals on the street are those that cannot rate the better class of establishment. Just something to keep in mind, mm? Encounter Types As a general rule, encounters fall into three major types: roleplaying, combat, and challenge. What makes an encounter interesting, ultimately, is the choice it presents to the player involved and the conflict it offers by its presence. Roleplaying encounters are just that - social challenges unlikely to require dice that present an interesting challenge or social conundrum. The point of a roleplaying encounter is to /react/. To see what others do when presented with a situation that goes outside of the normal series of IC events. These are often the most rewarding - a beggar on the side of the road can serve to highight a noble's generosity as much as a freelander's callousness. What does someone do when they encounter a merchant beating his horse? Challenge encounters are a different animal - these represent a static series of circumstances that results in a physical or mental problem that must be overcome with creativity and action. A bridge collapse, for instance, or a runaway wagon; an escaped horse or a hunter's trap. The challenge may or may not be directly dangerous, but the player's actions in the face of the event offer them an opportunity for heroics that doesn't involve (generally) death and destruction. Combat encounters are ... well. Just that. "Stand and Deliver", shouts the bandit to the Knight. They have their place - but, fair warning, they're also considered by most to be a cop-out encounter, an empty thing that is easy to put together and somewhat mindless to be a part of. As a general rule, combat encounters should come naturally out of conflict in either a roleplaying encounter or a challenge gone bad. You can, of course, combine types - rescuing farmers from the ruins of a wagon while being beset by bandits definitely has its appeal, doesn't it? But one must always be careful of /duration./ Durations: Most plotlines should begin and end within a single encounter. That is to say- they don't carry over from day to day to become ongoing events. Even major plotlines, huge swaths of changing theme, consist of lesser encounters that are ideally designed in that way. For player plots, this means that, as a general rule, your plot should go from inception to absolute completion within a single play session. There may be a bandit leader, and he may get away - but when it's done at the end of the day, it's done! Try to aim your scope so that your plot isn't hanging over everyone's heads, revolving around more than one session to complete. That isn't to say that some plots won't /break/ this guideline - that leader may come back, for instance, or everyone may want to go chasing off after him into the woods. BUT! As a general rule, resolving your plots in the same event in which they're launched is a darned good idea. Keep your scope simple, and your challenges direct. Final Words: Anyone at all can be a source of story. You too. And the staff certainly hopes you will be - that you'll try your own storylines and show your own unique encounters. But.. we're here to help. We're not giant ogres squishing all good ideas - don't be afraid to contact us and talk through what you're thinking, and let us help you tune it in and even drop in to adjudicate or expand it, if necessary. Our hope is that together we can tell broader and grander stories than we ever could alone; the depth on the grid is tremendous if everyone's got room to throw out some of their own ideas. If in doubt, ask! We're here to help. 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